About Octa8on

Octagon is for any one who has an invisible disability, or any person who would love to learn more about invisible disabilities. I hope you fall in love with octagon when you find the revival within yourself. I would love to see you here as often as best friends visit each other.

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: What! You too? I thought I was the only one. C.S. LEWIS

Having an invisible disability made me feel alone most of my life. It was not my disability that was invisible, but I felt invisible. When I joined different groups on social media, I realized I wasn’t alone. Many other people are struggling with the same things daily.

Friendships vanish many times because of invisible disabilities. When I look at my own circle of friends, it is clear that true friends are hard to find. As part of social media groups my life has new purpose. It makes me feel loved when you hear people encourage one another.

I struggled with ADHD since childhood (only the symptoms, it only got a name with my son’s diagnoses 8 years ago when he was 9 years old). One of my big struggles was that I didn’t have any friends, I was an outcast and I felt different than my peers. I felt alone…

School was a battle for my son since grade 1. It is difficult for people to understand that his brain cause the outbursts and meltdowns. He was in trouble most of the time. They only allowed him in school because I am a teacher who begged them for another, and another and another… change. It went on like this till the end of grade 8 when I decided to home-school him. It was a wonderful journey where I saw how my son changed for the better. The teachers who said he will become a criminal, eat your heart out… Grant is thinking of studying Law next year, with 18 months less time in school than he would have covered if he stayed in mainstream schools.

He has international qualifications now, if he will ever want to study abroad. So for us, 8 has a wonderful meaning. It was the starting of a new life, a life without the world’s negative feedback and messages of failure. In my career I experienced revival after 8 years in teaching. I am employed at a school for disabled learners. Although I love them all, I have a soft spot for those with invisible disabilities, because for them there are no empathy.

So why the name octa8on (Octagon)? It has a deep spiritual connection. The octagon represent eternal life and the number eight is symbolic of revival.

One interesting features of Hebrew and Greek is that in both written languages there are no numeric characters. Where we have numbers and letters, they have only letters. So, in each language the letters are also used as numbers. The interesting thing is that a written word has a numeric equal. For example, the word “Jesus” in Greek is iasous. The name of Jesus in Greek is ιησους (I H Σ O Y Σ) (iota, eta, sigma, omicron, upsilon, and sigma). Substituting the Greek letter with the equal numerical values in the name of Jesus ads up to the total 888. The values of each letter are: iota, 10; eta, 8; sigma, 200; omicron, 70; upsilon, 400; sigma, 200. The sum of 10 + 8 + 200 + 70 + 400 + 200 is 888.

The Number 888 is the most symmetrical Number – it can reflect, invert, and have its digits permuted with no change in appearance. This binds with God’s use of the number 8 when He declared He is eternal unchanging nature, saying (Malachi 3:6) I am the Lord, I change not. The exact words written are:

I am the Lord, I change notAni YHVH, Lo shaniti = 888

For people with invisible disabilities Octa8on is my way to

give all who feel invisible – a body again,

make your voice heard,

help you make money at home, because I know one of the most difficult things is to keep a job,

(last but not least) make you my friend… I know you need one, because I do understand.

For the rest of the world, I hope to open your eyes to an invisible world and help you to find empathy for people who did not asked to be in their situation. It is a lonely world and you as individual who visit my blog can change the meaning of life for so many struggling with an invisible disability.